Filmmaker draws on similarities between different cultures in thrilling ride of survival
Credit to Author: Dana Gee| Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2020 23:22:11 +0000
Vancouver International Women in Film Festival
When: March 3-8
Where: Vancity Theatre
Info and tickets:womeninfilm.ca
Filmmaker Marie Clements hopes her film Red Snow reminds people that we are better off together then we are apart.
In the film a Gwich’in soldier from the Canadian Arctic is caught in an ambush in Afghanistan. While he is held and interrogated by the Taliban he has vivid memories of love and of the death of his Inuit cousin. It is during this detention he is drawn close to a Pashtun family that is also under the watchful and dangerous eye of a volatile Taliban commander.
Asivak Koostachin stars as Dylan a Canadian soldier who is kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan in the film Red Snow from Galiano Island filmmaker Marie Clements. Photo credit: Howard J. Davis
“I feel like in this day and age, with so many things in the world separating us as people, that it’s good to be reminded that we have a lot in common even if we are different from each other,” said Clements, when asked about the relationship that grows between the Inuit soldier named Dylan (Asivak Koostachin) and the Afghan translator Aman (Shafin Karim) and his family.
Without giving too much away about the film, the soldier and Pashtun family help each other through an extreme situation and in doing so they come to understand that as humans we are all connected by basic wants and needs.
“I think all of us want, you know, freedom to live the way we should be allowed to live as human beings. And we want the best for our family,” said Clements.
Mozhdah Jamalzadah (left) and Shafin Karim play a daughter and father in the film Red Snow. The movie opens this year’s Vancouver International Women in Film Festival on March 3-8, 2020 at Vancity Theatre. Photo credit: Howard J. Davis
Clements’ film will open the 15th annual Vancouver International Women in Film Festival, which takes place at the Vancity Theatre from March 3 to 8. The film is one of nine feature films at the festival. Also on the program are seven documentaries and 26 short films. In the festival there are eight Canadian premieres. The Argentinian drama The Rabbit’s House about a young girl living with activists in the mid seventies will have its world premiere at VIWFF.
“It’s always an honour to be included in a festival that celebrates women filmmakers,” said Clements, a Metis multiple disciplined artist who lives on Galiano Island. “Being able to be in a community and to see other women’s work and to see, you know, what they’re making and see what stories they’re really passionate about, I think it just feeds you. There’s a feeling when you’re at these festivals, yes you’re there for your baby, but you really are being inspired and kind of motivated, propelled by what other artists are doing and how they got to do it.”
Put on by the Women in Film and Television Vancouver organization, the VIWFF not only celebrates great cinema made by women but it offers a full slate of supportive programming including panels, seminars, artist talks, pitch sessions, a screenplay competition, social events and an awards gala.
“I really think it’s just like an incubator of ideas and possibilities,” added Clements.
The concept for Red Snow goes back a decade to when Clements was looking at photos of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. In the pictures were often Pashtuns and it was the images of those ethnic Afghans that really struck Clements.
“I was looking at a photo essay of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. And I just started looking at the faces of the Indigenous people there and you know, in certain angles they looked like Indigenous people in Canada. This was really great. What would happen if these two ancient cultures that had survived so many wars were face to face? And what does modern tribalism look like? And how do we survive using our identity? You know, as people?”
The film was shot in 20 days (some of those days the temperature dropped to -51 degrees) on location outside of Yellowknife and here in B.C. near Ashcroft, Kamloops and Cache Creek. Four languages are spoken in the film: Pashtun, English, Gwichʼin and Inuvialuktun.
Galiano Island filmmaker Marie Clements’ latest film Red Snow was shot near Yellowknife (seen here) as well as in locations in the B.C. Interior. Photo credit: Samantha Hefford
Clements has been a writer in residence for many theatrical organizations and universities. Her work in the theatre has earned her awards and nominations and her plays have been translated into different languages. Right now she is busy developing screenplays, making music videos, working on a four-part miniseries with the CBC and a documentary with the NFB.
“Everything’s percolating. Everything’s moving forward,” said Clements.
Interactive digital media and community outreach components have been created as part of the Red Snow experience. The opening night gala on March 3 will feature the debut of two singles from the brand new Red Snow soundtrack. Dirt Walkers and We Are Still the People will be performed live by a band of Afghan and Canadian Indigenous musicians including: Jamalzadah, Wayne Lavallee, Marina Hasselberg, Jon Deck and Diga.
Telling Indigenous stories has always been the plan for Clements. Now she says the industry and the consumers have started to really catch up.
“There’s been a significant shift,” said Clements. “It’s really exciting to be a storyteller at this time. And I do think that those doors that were, you know, closed for so long are opening. And I think audiences, you know, want to engage in Indigenous stories. I think we’re just looking to consume what we don’t know. To see things that we haven’t seen, you know, be involved in a dialogue that we might not have had even five years ago.
“Canada, it’s exploding with some really phenomenal directors and filmmakers and storytellers so I think it’s a real sign that there’s a critical mass of stories coming out that are high quality and really original and have a lot of craft,” added Clements.
After the 7 p.m. screening of Red Snow Clements and some of her actors will be on hand for a Q&A.
Another Indigenous film worth highlighting at the festival is Unceded Chiefs. The documentary is making its Canadian premiere here at VIWFF on March 7. The film from local director Doreen Manuel looks at the B.C. First Nations leaders who joined together to reject Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau’s proposed 1969 White Paper Policy. That policy was setting out to abolish all legal documents that had previously existed, including the Indian Act, and all treaties within the country. The film will be followed by a Q&A discussion with Manuel and other guests.